Lord Watson of Invergowrie: My Lords, I welcome my new noble friend Lord Khan and commend him on an excellent speech, not least his nod to Kamala Harris.
I will address my remarks to the measures in the Budget impacting education. To do so will not require anything like two minutes, despite schools and colleges having faced excess costs associated with the pandemic and which they have had to meet from their own resources. They deserve government support not only to get children back to school but to ensure that they stay there safely. They got none. Teachers have been working flat out for the past year and deserved to have that recognised. Instead, the public sector pay freeze means that 94% of teachers will not receive a pay increase, which is shameful and will be demoralising for many.
The Budget might also have delivered desperately needed support for the early years sector; many nursery providers have stated that they do not expect to be in existence by the end of this year. Despite having remained open to assist the economy during school closures, early years settings have received no help. As my noble friend Lady Andrews said, it is investment in public services that makes us resilient.
The noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, mentioned apprenticeships. The one education-related measure announced by the Chancellor seems to be an attempt to kick-start them. Certainly, they have declined alarmingly during the pandemic, but if employers were not willing to take on a young apprentice with a 13% wage subsidy, it seems unlikely that they will do so with the subsidy increased to 20%. Labour has proposed funding to create up to 85,000 new opportunities, with half of a new young apprentice’s wages in the first year of their apprenticeship paid by the Government, saving employers more than £3,500 per apprentice. We have costed this subsidy at around £300 million—precisely the unspent apprenticeship levy funds from 2019-20, which the DfE returned to the Treasury.
As a former Education Minister, perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Agnew, might care to address the absence of measures to support that sector in his closing remarks.

Viscount Waverley: My Lords, I will not jump ship. My contribution today focuses on trade, which is central to the economic recovery—yet there was little mention of it, except for freeports, which, in the grander scheme of things, are peripheral, with marginal economic benefits. I would commend a more ambitious approach, with investment from government.
The Budget was an opportunity to send a signal of intent that the Government mean business and to outline a trade-driven recovery, setting out a vision and how that vision would be funded. It is also essential that there is a clear industrial strategy underpinning a comprehensive trade strategy. However, we are now faced with the Government having abandoned their industrial strategy. How are we to build new green industries, generate jobs and drive exports effectively without an industrial strategy? Trade affects every walk of life, and it is essential that policy embraces a comprehensive strategy that addresses the ambitious goals of the United Kingdom at large.
The Department for International Trade cannot be expected to do everything. Secretary of State Truss has pipped me to the post this morning with a  round robin announcing that the Board of Trade has launched its first report, Global Britain, Local Jobs. Recommendations have been set out to
“unleash the UK’s full exporting potential and propel jobs and growth across the country.”
Although time has not permitted me to digest the detail, it is a commendable initiative and deserves our support. I hope that the Government have focused on where they should by adding the most value for the taxpayer and industry, driving their prime responsibility: creating the conditions to ensure that business thrives. This could include a rethink of the role of DIT and how it might work more effectively with the private sector, leveraging public finances to attract private sector resources.
Therefore, the Budget was a missed opportunity, compounded by exports having collapsed in the last 12 months—notwithstanding the Minister’s confirming that the UK is set to return to pre-crisis levels earlier than expected—with exports to the EU plunging by £5.6 million since Brexit.